Cleveland Browns unveil plans to modernize FirstEnergy Stadium

The Browns are improving as a football team, and as soon as the season ends the place they call home will be improved too, provided Cleveland politicians go along with the plan.

Improvements will take two years, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said during a glitzy announcement Wednesday inside FirstEnergy Stadium. A video highlighting the first nine games of the current season and showing renderings of how the stadium will appear when the renovations are completed was part of the presentation.

During the first year of the project, new video boards tripled the size of the current ones will be installed in each end zone. The video boards will be closer to the fans than they are now.

About 3,000 seats from the 71,000-seat capacity will be sacrificed for the project. Seats will be removed from the upper deck and seats will be added to the lower bowl with the idea of putting fans closer to the action on the field.

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“We have consistently communicated that our two primary areas of focus are winning as many games as possible and creating the best fan experience in the NFL,” Haslam said. “We have engaged our fans, asked their thoughts and responded to their ideas and concerns. This modernization plan is a result of our desire to invest in creating the best environment for them and our players.”

The outside of the stadium will get a facelift, too, including escalators to make it easier for fans to reach all levels of the stadium. Twelve escalators will provide access by the time the project ends.

Pictures the Browns Hall of Fame players will be displayed on the outside of FirstEnergy Stadium.

A dome is not part of the project.

Total cost of the project is estimated at $120 million, CEO Joe Banner said. The NFL is loaning the Browns half the cost up to $62 million.

The Browns are going to present the project to the Cleveland Planning Commission on Thursday. Banner was vague on how much money they would ask the city to kick in.

“The city owns the stadium,” Banner said. “We have to do this together. They have to approve it. They have to feel comfortable aside from the economic questions.

“Obviously, the planning commission and a number of agencies in the city would have to be in line and approving this project for it to happen economics aside, and obviously economics aren’t an aside, so there is nothing that can happen to the stadium without the city feeling positive.”

Work will be done in the offseasons before the 2014 and 2015 seasons with the goal of having everything done by the start of the 2015 season.

For 2015, the plan calls for improving general admission concession areas and upgrading club seats and suites.

Banner said he hopes the upgrade will make it easier to attract other performers to FirstEnergy Stadiums.

He said the Browns have been in contact with organizers to bring in future events but did not get specific.